13 January 2012 (Theatre Interview)

Interview by: Caomhan Keane

Marie O'Rourke is a school teacher who began attending the theatre seven years ago on the advice of her doctor. Since then she has seen over 565 plays. Marie credits the theatre with saving her life. 565+ is about survival. There comes a time in all our lives when we look for help, when we reach crisis, when we will try anything that helps. For some it is therapy, for others it is medication. For Marie O'Rourke it is the theatre. She talks here to Caomhan Keane

How did the project come about?

My cousin Una and I were attending a lot of shows together talking about our mutual interest in theatre and what it meant to us. Una was studying theatre and I was attending it compulsively. in 2009 Project Brand New and the Bealtaine Festival curated an event called 'Generation' looking to foster creative collaboration between different generations and Una asked me would I be interested in working with her and discussing on stage what attending the theatre meant to me and how it had helped me in my life.

Can you tell us about the show? What's it about?

In the show I'm forthright about my pain and the anxiety and depression I've had throughout my life and discuss the lengths I've gone to to try and fix myself. I've tried many forms of therapy and different pursuits such as sailing and meditation but nothing has worked for me in the way theatre has.

What form does it take?

The production is quite informal; I would call it conversational although I am doing most of the talking! It's not interactive in any way but Una is on stage with me giving me a hand.

I take it you saw Victor & Gord as part of the 565+ plays you saw. Did that help you agree to put your life on the stage?

Victor and Gord was the first show of its kind that I had seen and I really engaged with it, it showed me that the ordinary details of our everyday lives can be very powerful when retold to an audience and that truth as well as fiction has a place on the stage.

What kind of conversation did you first have with Una when it came to developing this show? What were the most important questions you needed answered before you started?

The first thing Una did was interview me with a set of questions she uses in her work, very ordinary questions but they elicited a lot of detail which I had never discovered myself. The process helped me gain some perspective and see my life more objectively than subjectively. Una is my first cousin and is familiar with my family so this helped me go forward with the project although it was hard sometimes to believe that anyone could be interested in what I had to say. I needed some reassurance with that.

Tell us about that first day in the rehearsal room? What was it like no longer just watching but actively taking part in the process?

I loved it. I loved being part of a crew, seeing everything being built up from nothing. It amazed me how much work goes on behind the scenes and how pivotal all the roles are.

What has been your favourite and least favourite part about developing a show?
Trying to maintain a sense of authenticity in the material and in the performance is the biggest challenge and the hardest part of the process but when we achieve this it's a great feeling.

What surprised you the most?

I'd hidden so many skeletons in my closet for so long I'm still amazed at some of the things I say out on that stage.

Of the 565 plays you have seen can you tell us a few of your highlights?

Rough Magic's Don Carlos at Project Upstairs, Conor Mc Pherson's adaptation of The Birds at the Gate (everything by Conor McPherson), Jane Eyre with Susan Fitzgerald and Dawn Bradshaw in The Gate 2003, The Three Sisters at The Gaiety Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival 2010, Ages of The Moon by Sam Shephard with Sean McGinley at The Peacock, Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill with Marie Mullen and James Cromwell to name a few!

Tell me something about theatre. Something you feel the uninitiated or even the initiated should know about.

It helps me get out of my own head and gives me a great sense of freedom. It's also somewhere I can go alone without feeling self-conscious.

565+ is part of the First Fortnight Festival and will be on in the Project Arts Centre from the 12th to the 14th of January.

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